TOKIO.
TOKIO, JAPAN, Oct. 15, 1889.
After being entertained at Yokohama, on the morning of the 14th instant,
with a slight earthquake, we left for this, the capital city of the
Empire, on a finely built and equipped, narrow-gauge (3 ft. 6 in.)
railroad. Every square yard of the country we traversed was cultivated
in the highest degree--Distance eighteen miles, time one hour.
I noticed that the locomotives, cars, and all the equipments about the
railroad were of English manufacture from Manchester and Birmingham. I
was informed that most of the twelve hundred miles of railroads in Japan
were owned and run by the Government. The chief in charge is a native
educated in England, who scouted the idea that any other country could
produce any thing fit to be used on railroads.
We had previously engaged rooms at one of the two hotels in the city,
where foreigners are entertained, and after an excellent dinner, took
_jinrickishas_, of which there are 80,000 in this city, and had a long
run through the interminable streets. The city has a population of
1,600,000 and covers a space of thirty-six square miles, the streets
being very narrow and the houses mostly of wood, one and two stories
high--the stores all small.
After passing through streets for some miles, we came to others, wider
and lighted brilliantly by gas and electricity, through which carriages
were not allowed to pass. The houses, for miles, were occupied as
tea-houses, and were brilliantly illuminated, like the gin palaces of
London, or the whiskey saloons of America. Great vans were passing
along, on which dancing and theatrical performances were going on. There
were also a good many theatres in active operation.
One of the evenings that we were in the city, these streets were
occupied by an immense annual flower show, one of the features of which
was a big elephant constructed of chrysanthemum flowers of many colors.
The effect was very gorgeous.
The next day we spent going about the great city and seeing its wonders,
chief of which is the Mikado's palace and grounds. I called on the
American Minister and asked him to get me a permit to go into the
palace, but he said it was impossible, no foreigners being allowed in
the palace or the grounds. The palace and gardens looked like immense
fortifications, being surrounded by three moats, each a hundred feet
wide, and filled with water, and by three stone walls, each thirty or
forty feet high.
The palace is in the heart of the city, and I should say the grounds
were two hundred acres in extent, all, including the neighboring
streets, being lighted by the New York Edison Company. I saw the
superintendent who had charge of the construction of the plant, who said
it took them a year to do it.
The women to be seen in the streets and tea-houses are invariably small
and very pretty, except some of the married ones, who have their teeth
colored black in accordance with an ancient custom, which makes them
look hideous.
It is very cool in this part of Japan at this season. There is not
sufficient frost to affect the crops, but one gets cold riding
about--and there is no efficient method of heating the houses. There is
no coal used for domestic purposes, and wood is very scarce and high. If
you ask for a fire, at most hotels, they bring you a copper pan
containing ignited charcoal covered with ashes, which does about as much
good as a kerosene lamp. I suffer greatly with the cold, and would be
glad to pay a large price for a pair of Arctic overshoes.
The price of newspapers, printed in the English language, at Yokohama is
twenty-five cents a copy, or thirty dollars per annum. They have very
little news, and almost none from America.
We went through the museum, and saw many extraordinary curiosities of
ancient and modern Japan. Among them was a stuffed rooster in a glass
case, whose tail feathers were ten feet long. I thought there was some
humbug about it, but I afterwards saw a live one with tail feathers
twelve feet long.
The public buildings are modern, large, and handsome, and the people
very polite and good-natured. The streets are narrow. Great crowds are
everywhere. It seems to me that I must have seen a hundred thousand
people to-day. Every thing about the city is strange, often disagreeable
and offensive. A couple of days in it is quite sufficient, and I shall
be very glad to go away to-morrow.